Polish Legions in Italy
Polish Legions in Italy is the name applied to the several different Polish units serving in the
French army from the 1790s to 1810s. After the
third partition of Poland in 1795 many Poles believed that
revolutionary France and its allies would come to the aid of Poland, as France's enemies included the partitioners of Poland . Therefore many Polish soldiers, officers and volunteers
emigrated from Poland to other countries, especially
Italy and
France, where they joined local military forces. The number of Polish recruits soon reached many thousands, and so with support from
Napoleon Bonaparte special Polish military units, commanded by Polish officers and with Polish military ranks were created.
Encyclopedia
Polish Legions in Italy is the name applied to the several different Polish units serving in the
French army from the 1790s to 1810s. After the
third partition of Poland in 1795 many Poles believed that
revolutionary France and its allies would come to the aid of Poland, as France's enemies included the partitioners of Poland . Therefore many Polish soldiers, officers and volunteers
emigrated from Poland to other countries, especially
Italy and
France, where they joined local military forces. The number of Polish recruits soon reached many thousands, and so with support from
Napoleon Bonaparte special Polish military units, commanded by Polish officers and with Polish military ranks were created. They became known as the Polish Legions and were considered to be a
Polish army 'in exile' under command of
France. Those units were commanded, among others, by
Jan Henryk Dabrowski,
Karol Kniaziewicz and
Józef Wybicki. Polish Legions serving alongside the
French army during the
Napoleonic Wars saw combat in most of Napoleon's campaigns, from
West Indies, through
Italy and
Egypt, to
Russia.
Although Polish support for Napoleon eventually resulted in the creation of the small Polish state it is now considered highly unlikely that Napoleon entertained any serious plans for recreating an independent and strong
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Rather he gave Poles vague promises in order to ensure the flow of Polish volunteers to his troops. He skilfully manipulated all sides and capitalized upon the anxieties of Russia, Prussia and Austria, with the intimidating threats of a French-Polish alliance and the recreation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Nonetheless Polish volunteers flocked to the Polish Legions under Napoleon's banner and throughout the entire period of Napoleon's career and even today the memory of the Polish Legions of Napoleon is strong, with Napoleon himself commonly regarded in Poland as a hero and liberator.
History of the legions
Jan Henryk Dabrowski, a former high-ranking officer in the army of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, began his work in 1796 - a year after the
total destruction of the Commonwealth - when he was summoned to
Paris by
Napoleon Bonaparte. He was soon authorised by the French-allied
Cisalpine Republic to create Polish legions, which would be part of the army of the newly created
Republic of Lombardy. He was also authorised to sign an agreement with the new government of the Republic of Lombardy, where the Republic agreed to create a second legion. Dabrowski's Legions were first used against
Austrians in Italy, where Poles who had a natural sympathy for people fighting for their own independence saw the Italian cause for independence as similar to that of their own. Early on, the Legions proved to be a valuable military asset and in 1798 the Poles helped the French to capture Rome. It was also then that the future Polish national anthem,
Mazurek Dabrowskiego, was created by Józef Wybicki, with words promising 'the return of the Polish army from Italy to Poland'. In 1799 Karol Kniaziewicz organised the Polish Danube Legion to fight against the Germans in the
Balkans.
However the Poles could not choose all their fights, and their morale became weaker when instead of being sent against the partitioners of Poland they were used by the French to put down uprisings .
Eventually in 1802 the legions were sent to
Haiti to put down the
Haitian Revolution . Napoleon wanted to regain the
colony of Saint Domingue, but had no wishing to deplete his main French army any more than he had to. Polish legions were accompanied by contingents of Germans and Swiss French allies, as well as by the less favoured units of Napoleon's French army. Many Polish soldiers became sympathetic to
the natives' cause and in Haiti it was widely believed that Poles supported
Jean-Jacques Dessalines in significant numbers, with entire units changing sides. The actual desertion rate was much lower . Eventually combat casualties and tropical diseases reduced the 5,280 strong Legion to a few hundred survivors in the space of less than two years. By the time French forces retreated from the island in 1803 about 4,000 Poles were dead , about 400 remained on the island, a few dozen dispersed to the nearby islands or to the
United States and about 700 returned to France. Loss of that many patriotic army personnel was a serious blow to Polish aspirations for regaining independence and the Haitian experience undermined belief among Poles in France's good intentions toward Poland.
In 1806, what was left of the old Dambrowski and Kniaziewicz's Danube Legion was one infantry regiment and one cavalry regiment in the service of the Kingdom of Naples. French armies, including the Legion units, defeated the Prussians in
Silesia at the
battle of Jena and Poles under Dabrowski entered former Polish territories , which resulted in the influx of recruits for the legion. A year later Napoleon having defeated the Russian armies met with the Russian
Tsar Alexander I at
Tilsit and in the ensuing negotiations they agreed that a new, small Polish state under French control would be created.
This state was known as the
Duchy of Warsaw and although it was much smaller than the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, made up only of some of the lands the defeated Prussians had taken in partitions of Poland , its creation brought hope to many Poles - and Polish volunteers flocking under French banners. Despite Polish support and his own promises, Napoleon did not hurry with the recreation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The duchy was ruled by a French-allied King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony and was never allowed to develop as a truly independent state; Frederick Augustus' rule was subordinated to the requirements of the French
raison d'état, who largely treated the state as a source of resources. The most important person in the duchy was in fact the French ambassador, based in the duchy's capital,
Warsaw.
During the
Peninsular War in
Spain Polish forces, rebuilt to an about 6,000 strong contingent and now known as the Vistulan Legion gained fame at the
Battle of Somosierra. Their valour in that conflict inspired the British to create the English lancers equipped with Polish-style uniforms and weapons.
In 1812 Napoleon called upon the Lithuanians to rebel as an excuse
to attack Russia. The Poles and Lithuanians, flocking to his standard in the hope of resurrecting the Commonwealth, formed the largest non-French contingent, 98,000 strong . Polish Lancers of the Vistula Legion were the first to cross the
Niemen river into Russia, the first to enter
Moscow, played a crucial part in the
battle of Borodino and, under prince Józef Poniatowski , covered the disastrous French retreat, being the last out of Russia; 26,000 of the original 98,000 returned. The elite Vistula Legion entering Russia was about 7,000 strong; it's strength at the end of the campaign was 1,500.
The end of the Polish Legions was tied to the end of Napoleon's career and the existence of the Duchy of Warsaw. The Duchy was occupied by Prussian and Russian troops following Napoleon's retreat from Russia. When Napoleon went into exile on
Elba the only guards he was allowed were the Polish Lancers. During the
1815 campaign 325 men under a Colonel Golaszewski appear to have been the last of the famous Vistula Legion to serve under Napoleon. Poles remained loyal to him until the bitter end, with Polish units holding their ground at his last battles . In 1815, when it was formally partitioned between the two countries at the
Congress of Vienna, and Napoleon relieved of his honour guard, the Legions ceased to exist. Yet even today the memory of Polish Legions of Napoleon is strong, and Napoleon himself, despite the cynical way that Napoleon treated the Poles, is commonly regarded in Poland as a hero and liberator.
Quotes
Napoleon is quoted to have said that 800 Poles would equal 8000 enemy soldiers.
See also
References
- Jan Pachonski, Reuel K. Wilson. Poland's Caribbean Tragedy: A Study of Polish Legions in the Haitian War of Independence 1802-1803. East European Monographs, 1986. ISBN 0-88033-093-7. .
Further reading
List based on the compilation of Polish Genealogical Society of America - Leonard Chodzko, Histoire Des Légions Polonaises en Italie, Paris, 1929.
- Elena I. Fedosova, , The Journal of the International Napoleonic Society, 1/2/98
- Bronislaw Gembarzewski, Wojsko Polskie. Ksiestwo Warszawskie 1807-1814. Warszawa, 1905 , 1912, edition.
- Stanislaw Kirkor, Legia Nadwislanska, 1808-1814. Londyn, 1981.
- Stanislaw Kirkor, Pod Sztandarami Napoleona, Londyn, 1982.
- Kozlowski, Historya lgo Potem 9go Pulku Wielkiego Ksiestwa Warszawskiego, Napisana Prez Kpt. Kozlowskiego, Poznan - Krakow, 1887.
- Jan Pachonski, Legiony Polskie. Prawda i Legenda, 1794-1807. Warszawa, I-1969, II-1976, III-1971, IV-1979.
- Jan Pachonski, Polacy Na Antylach i Morzu Karaibskim, Krakow, 1979.
- Aleksander Rembowski, Zródla do Historii Pulku Polskiego Lekkokonnego Gwardii Napoleona I, Wyd. A. Rembowski, Warszawa, 1899.
- A.M. Skalkowski, Polacy Na San Domingo, 1802-1809. Poznan, 1921.
- Joseph Tyszkiewicz, Histoire Du 17ičme Régiment De Cavalerie Polonaise Đe Lanciers Du Comte Michel Tyszkiewlcz, 1812-1815. Cracow, 1904.
- Henry Lachougue; Ann Brown, The Anatomy of Glory, Napoleon and His Guard, Providence, R.I., London, 1962, ed. New York, 1978, ed.
External links
